![]() ![]() Still, this is a gorgeously illustrated introduction to a watershed event. These events can be used as openings for parents to discuss them in more detail with their kids, but the book on its own may be confusing. Copyright © 1968, 1970 by Nikki Giovanni. Various news events, such as the lynching of Emmet Till and freeing of his killers, are mentioned but not explained an author's note would have been welcome. Nikki Giovanni, Nikki-Rosa from Black Feeling, Black Talk, Black Judgment. And she virtually disappears from the book halfway through. What is the NAACP? What happened to Parks after the police came? There is a vivid picture of a cop confronting her, but her actual arrest is not mentioned. Though the book is aimed at 4- to 8-year-olds, some of the story will go over their heads, and many things are unexplained. ![]() Poet Nikki Giovanni's text is at times preachy, however, and Parks is portrayed as perhaps more than a mere mortal - at times Bryan Collier's art suggests a halo above her. The pictures radiate heat, light, and power. ![]() In paintings that combine watercolor and collage, realistic images of people are set against slightly abstract backgrounds with skewed perspectives. Bold yet detailed, they show Rosa Parks as she was - not an old lady too tired to get up, but a strong young woman tired of oppression. ![]() It's easy to see why ROSA won both the Coretta Scott King Award and a Caldecott Honor - the illustrations are spectacular. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |